Wavendon (St. Mary)

WAVENDON (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Newport-Pagnell, hundred of Newport, county of Buckingham, 3½ miles (N. W.) from Woburn; containing 846 inhabitants. The parish is on the road from Woburn to Newport-Pagnell and Northampton, and comprises 2600 acres by admeasurement. There are pits for obtaining fullers'-earth. The manufacture of bone-lace is carried on by the women and children, and a few are engaged in making straw-plat. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £26. 6. 10½., and in the gift of the Hoare family: the tithes have been commuted for £702; the glebe contains 82 acres. Here are places of worship for Wesleyans and the Society of Friends. George Wells in 1714 bequeathed £800, and his niece Beatrice Miller added £200, for founding and endowing a free school: these sums were invested in land now producing a clear rental of £84. 18. The Duke of Bedford annually supplies coal for the poor to the amount of £150, in lieu of some waste land awarded under an inclosure act in 1791; and the parish is in possession of town lands, the rents of which, amounting to about £20, together with some minor charities, are distributed among the poor. Almshouses for four widows were lately built by Sir H. Hugh Hoare.